Rights Corner
Human rights and women's reproductive health
What is the human right to reproductive health?
The issues raised in Beijing and Cairo regarding women's reproductive health and sexuality are human rights issues. Reinforcing them are universal human rights standards defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, CEDAW, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and other widely adhered to international human rights treaties and Declarations -- powerful tools that must be put to use to enhance efforts for the advancement of women's reproductive and sexual health.
The human rights at issue
The reproductive and sexual human rights of all women include:
- The human right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including reproductive and sexual health.
- The human right to equality in marriage, including the equal right of women and men to decide on the number and spacing of children.
- The human right to access to education and information, in particular relating to family planning to enable couples and individuals to exercise their right to decide freely and responsibly all matters of reproduction and sexuality.
- The human right to access to adequate social services, including access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice, as well as other methods of their choice for regulation of fertility, and the right of access to appropriate health-care services that will enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth.
- The human right to privacy.
- The human right to freedom from discrimination and discriminatory social practices, including female genital mutilation, prenatal gender selection, and female infanticide.
- The human right to freedom from coercion and violence, sexual exploitation, forced prostitution.
These human rights are inextricably linked to other fundamental human rights guaranteed to all women, rights that are universal, indivisible, interconnected and interdependent, including:
- The human right to equality between men and women and to full and equal partnership in the family and society.
- The human right to full respect for the inherent dignity of the person.
- The human right to full and equal participation in all aspects of public life and decision-making.
- The human right to an adequate standard of living.
Source: The People's Movement for Human Rights Education.
